How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 11
Issue Numbering: 3
Section: B
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 28
Formal Sub-Theme: None.
Individual Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Issue Publication Date: September 1, 2023
Author(s): James Haught
Author(s) Bio: James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23, at the age of 91.
Word Count: 411
Image Credit: None
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Keywords: Americans, architecture, Christians, cityscapes, James Haught, mendacity, religion, scientific thinking, Western democracies.
How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes
Every city skyline is graced by stately steeples, spires, bell towers, domes, minarets and other outlines of cathedrals, temples, mosques, synagogues and sacred edifices of many sorts. The array seems majestic — until you realize that it represents an extravaganza of lies.
The holy architecture proclaims a supernatural realm of gods, devils, heavens, hells, miracles, prophecies, angels, demons, saviors, blessed virgins and other magical entities that actually don’t exist. Intelligent, educated, modern people know that the whole rigmarole is imaginary, purely fictitious. Yet the panorama dominates each cityscape — a graphic testimonial that humanity lives with myths.
Suppose an extraterrestrial landed and inquired about the religious facades. Could you explain that they represent a past era when humans believed supernatural claims, but many no longer do? The ET might notice that people still attend the worship places. Could you explain the attendees as leftover stragglers from the age of blind faith — people who haven’t yet adopted scientific thinking?
To be truthful, the stragglers aren’t insignificant. They’re huge, although shrinking. More than half of American adults still call themselves Christians. The nation has around 400,000 houses of worship of all types. American believers donated $127 billion to religion in 2016. The internet has innumerable websites espousing faith.
Amid all this religiosity, a few voices say: Wait. Don’t take it seriously. It’s just a chimera, a fantasy rising from the human imagination. It has no actual reality. It’s a game played by our culture, just like with Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, Halloween witches and the Easter Bunny.
Fortunately, millions of young Americans no longer take it seriously. Since the 1990s, an astounding number of educated people have turned their backs on supernaturalism, declaring their religion to be “none.” The “Nones” have climbed rapidly to around one-fourth of U.S. adults and at least one-third of those under 30. American churches have lost 20 percent of their members in two decades.
The United States is following the secularization that swept Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and the rest of Western democracy since World War II. If the snowballing trend continues, religion will shrink to an inconsequential fringe in the West (not in Muslim lands, however).
Although Europe has lost most of its religion, mighty cathedrals still grace European cities. They’ve become mostly tourist attractions, not citadels of faith. I hope that’s the future for spire-laced American cities as well.
This piece is adapted from a column written for the August-September 2020 issue of Free Inquiry.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes. August 2023; 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2023, August 15). How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes. In-Sight Publishing. 11(3). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion.
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, J. How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 11, n. 3, 2023.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2023. “How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (Summer). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 11, no. 3 (August 2023).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion.
Harvard: Haught, J. (2023) ‘How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 11(3). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion>.
Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2023, ‘How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.11, no. 3, 2023, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion.
Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. How the mendacity of religion marks our cityscapes [Internet]. 2023 Aug; 11(3). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/mendacity-religion.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen, or the author(s), and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors copyright their material, as well, and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 